Wichita eagle., 1887-08-17
IMPROVING PLANTS.
COMPARATIVELY LITTLE HAS BEEN
DONE BY MODERN NATIONS.

Discovery in the Mountains of Central
Asia-What the Digger Indians Have
Accomplished-Mines of Wealth in
Common Plants
The report that some Russian soldiers have
discovered among the mountains Of central
Asia new variety Of asparagus the stalks Of
which are four or five inches in diameter and
eight or ten feet in height, is well calculated
to bring joy to the hearts of boarding house
keepers. By devoting small portion Of their
back yards TO the production of this vegeta-
BILE they can keep their tables supplied with
what is now classed among the somewhat
costly luxuries at merely nominal cost.
Enterprising seedsmen have long been fur
nishing what they call "giant" asparagus, so
that this name cannot be applied to this newly
discovered variety. 1t is likely that it will
be called boarding house" asparagus and
that it will become as common as hash and
"boarding house steak"
This discovery, if it turns out to be as re-
ported, should serve to stimulate explorations
for the purpose Of finding other new vegeta-
bles valuable for food 1t is certain that
modern civilized nations have done compare
lively little by way Of discovering plants
valuable for food or in demonstrating or i'm
proving those found growing wild. Few of
them have taken pains to bring together all
the food furnishing plants found in different
parts of the world. One of the generals Of
Alexander the Great ON his expedition to con-
quer the east was left at Bagdad as governor,
and in two years time, it is said, he had
growing in and about the city every variety
of edible vegetable, grain and fruit known
in southern Europe He also introduced all
kinds of European trees, shrubs and vines
that were valuable either for their beauty or
utility.
IMPROVING NATIVE PLANTS.
The Europeans on coming to this country
found the natl yes cultivating maize or Indian
corn, potatoes and tobacco, and these crops
soon produced most important changes in
many parts of the old world. There are good
reasons for believing that these plants were
very inferior when growing in their wild
state. They were improved by long and
careful cultivation by persons still in the saw
age state. The Digger Indians, the lowest in
the scale of advancement of all the native
tribes, are credited with demonstrating and
improving more than twenty plants. The so
called superior races, who have driven the
Indians from their homes, have done less
than they did in improving native plants
The most promising wild fruits ever found in
any country were the papaw and persimmon,
which were distributed over large portion
of the territory included in the United States;
still they have received scarcely any attention
from the white settlers. Wild rice is proba-
bly, the most valuable grain produced any.
where, but no attempt has been made to in
crease its cultivation or to cause it to grow
SO that all the grain on a head viii mature
and ripen at the same time, as those of wheat,
rye, oats and barley now do.
The origin of many Of our most valuable
cultivated plants is not known. No one
knows who discovered them, when they were
domesticated or how they looked before they
passed under cultivation. Few of them can
longer be found in a wild state As wild
plants it seems likely that they have entirely
disappeared from the surface of the earth.
Some may have undergone sucn changes by
cultivation that they would not be recognized
in their wild state.